the news begins right now. >> live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> good morning, washington. glad you are joining us. i am alison starling. >> i am greta kreuz. we will check in with lisa baden in a moment. we started with a meteorologist adam caskey. a good day to get out and vote, right? >> fantastic. not quite as cool as the past couple mornings, but comfortable. at this tuesday morning, it is . 64 in temple hills, 62 in vienna. that is at marshall road elementary school. we are in the low to mid '60s for the most part. a few high, thin clouds. a cold front will drop in later. we will make it to 82 degrees. northwest wind at 10-20 with higher gusts. mostly sunny. sunny again tomorrow, near 80

degrees. now to lisa baden. metrorail is reporting everything on normal service system wide. no disruptions this morning. normal travel times is what we expect when we hit the road. on 95 between fredericksburg and springfield is good. nothing on 95 inland valley of baltimore. a good trip on the green lake, a toast, 66, and 270. coming out of germantown, uneventful. now to the top stories with pereta and allison. primary day in maryland, d.c., and six other states. local is getting the most attention of the district race for mayor. by the end of the day we could know if incumbent adrian fenty gets four more years or vincent gray will be taking over. pamela brown is live in

southeast with the fight to the finish. good morning. >> good morning. if today is official primary voting day. election officials say that 22,000 people have already voted. they are expecting a turnout of 55% today. both top candidates will be allowed in full force crisscrossing the city, trying to get every vote they can. the top two candidates for d.c. mayor has been pounding the pavement oliver d.c. charles's in their efforts to get people voting. >> the most important decision to be made is who is the best person to lead the city the next four years. dealing with education, jobs, housing. i am the best person to do that. >> vincent gray has been ahead in recent polls of steadily, but supporters think it comes down to the fact he is a likable guy. >> he is a people person with a

genuine love for the city. he exudes that. >> fenty supporters say that they are confident he will pull ahead today with a big voter turnout. fenty is confident he will prevail and then end -- will prevail in the end. >> it is a long campaign and it's about insurance and leaning at the tape. >> vincent gray will be a the on this center at first thing this morning in southeast d.c. several stocks for him thereafter. no word on where adrian fenty will be early this morning. the polls open in a couple hours from now. they will be open until 8:00 tonight. pamela brown reporting from southeast. d.c. voters will also choose candidates to run for council

chair, at large d.c. council seat, and council seats in wards 1, 3, 5, 6. in maryland's there may be a good little rematch. incumbent democrat martin o'malley is expected to get. his party's get he will likely face former republican gov. bob ehrlich. bob ehrlich is being challenged by attorney brian murphy. murphy has won the support of sarah palin >>. brianne carter is live in cheverly this morning with a preview of the county executive race. >> after all of these days, it comes down to this. the candidates have been hitting the campaign trail hard and voters will be held today voting in the primary. county executive in prince george's county is the race a lot of people will be looking at. four candidates are running. the focus has been on the top two. rushern baker and michael

jackson. both of the candidates are no stranger to leadership. baker has been a former has beenwho also runs a foundation designed to bring quality teachers to the county. michael jackson has been the sheriff's the past eight years. both of them over the past couple months have said that they will bring additional jobs to prince george's county. they will also be voting on a number of elections. the focus will be on the prince george's county executive race. according to election officials in maryland, they expect 32% of eligible voters to be voting in maryland for the primary today. brianne carter reporting. d.c. and maryland voters are not the only ones going to the polls. >> in six other states it is primary day. the republican senate primary in delaware. longtime congressman mike castle faces a tough challenge from tea party favourite christine

o'donnell. they are trying to capture joe biden dollars a former senate seat. >> the republican party has lost its way. they get behind candidates like my opponent who continues to support the democrat agenda blach stockton barrel. >> mild to moderate is generally on the social issues. >> o'donnell could become the seventh tea party candidate to win the republican nomination this year. the bush tax cuts have become the newest issue in this fall's election. democrats want to extend them for people making less than $250,000 a year. the republicans want to extend the tax cuts for wealthy as well. the nonpartisan congressional budget office says if all of the bush tax cuts are extended, economic growth could double in the next year. stay with abc 7 news for

continuing election coverage all morning. coming up in the next half- hour, what the police officials are expecting a sparse turnout. on this tuesday morning, still ahead in this half-hour, two rain delays could not stop cookindennis from running a new champion. >and-- tennis from crowning a champion. >and-- tennis from crowning a

5:10 on this tuesday morning. a few degrees warmer than the past few mornings. winchester is 55. that's one of the cooler locations. waldorf is 60 degrees. 61 in frederick. 57 in stafford at the regional airport. in bhamilton, 61. a cold front will be dropping in. i think we will still make it to the low 80's for the high temperature is. 82 this afternoon.

breezy with the northwest breeze at 10-20 with higher gusts. you will notice the winds later on today. near 80 degrees tomorrow with sunshine. a pretty dry extended forecast again. we need to rain. slight chance of a few showers late thursday into early friday. it has been a wonderful morning. it still is. 95, 66. increasing volume of traffic heading toward vienna on 270. 95 in maryland and virginia look good. things look good on route 4, route 5. looks good to annapolis. metrorail is reporting normal service system wide. starting to see a little more action on the highway. back to you. >> thank you. it is 5:11, 66 degrees. >> still ahead, for you to live?

a two-day trial and what it means for the website. -- you tube live? >> serious issues caused th e wheaton metro stop to shut down yesterday. >> making progress on a mideast peace deal. we will

in our top stories on this tuesday, it is primary day in maryland and the district. the mayor's race in d.c. between adrian fenty and vincent gray will come to an end. voters will also choose candidates for several city offices. maryland voters will decide who runs for governor and other state and local offices. outdoor burning is to blame for two major of fires in colorado. one fire burned through 900

acres and two offices. another fire near boulder destroyed 166 houses and 10 square miles. secretary clinton has arrived in egypt for the second round of middle east peace talks. she told reporters she believes the time is right for israel and the palestinians to make a permanent peace. this morning metro officials are trying to determine what caused the brushhollow mill down on the deadline. it started with exand electricity problem that shut down wheaton station, but the situation turned dangerous. >> this was a very serious situation at the wheaton metro statstop. these escalators were electrified. metro did shutdown the station because elevators and escalators were not working.

but one train operator did not get the message. she let out roughly 50 passengers at the wheaton metro stop. some of them went up the escalator. the crews quickly yelled at them to get off the escalators. they turned around and got back on the train and headed to force glenn andro settled back to wheaton. many passengers say they're fed up. >> we are asking why we cannot walk through the station and they told us the escalator is electrified. >> ultimately the station reopened at 9:00 p.m. with one escalator and one elevator running. mitchell is looking into the issue. they had no idea passengers were exiting on these electrified escalators, they say this morning. robberies on metro are skyrocketing. small electronic devices are a prime target. 540 robbers on trains this year,

that includes buses. that is 150 more than the same time last year -- 160 more. if that has doubled from the first half of 2008. robbers grab people's electronic device just before the doors close. a springfield man faces murder charges after a dispute with his neighbor over speedball. according to court documents, david patton burst into the house of steven carr, at him and his girlfriend upcoming and drove away. steven carr had successfully lobbied for the speedball to be put in front of his house. there was a robbery attempt yesterday afternoon outside potpies restaurant in the 600 block of malcolm x avenue in southeast. a co-worker drove the injured driver off to a nearby hospital. for details on the conditions have not been released.

the gunman fled on foot. youtube is testing a live stream. vinita nair has that story and more. >> youtube goes live with the trial of a new live streaming platform. with producers for a series of shows that will run on tuesday night. the users can post comments while they watch. the newest installment of halo is a trickle in which a group of soldiers battle on a planet called reach. dcan tried -- dan tried it out. >> you are able to carry accessories with you on the battlefields like a jet pack or armor that makes you impervious to arms but it also means you cannot move. this will feel very familiar to the old halo games. kids do for visual makeover. >> if it goes on sale in 25

countries today. those are your "tech bytes" and i am vinita nair. >> time for traffic and weather every ten minutes. adam caskey is joining us. i don't know what to say. i love this weather. >> it is still warm and sunny. >> it is pleasant again today. i made it all day without the air-conditioner yesterday. open the windows early today. let the cool air inside. that will be the story again today. we have hurricane eagle or -- hurricane igor with maximum sustained winds at 135, gusting at 160. and there's another one in the atlantic. they will not affect the eastern coast of united states.

igor is expected to get weaker slowly over the next couple days. let's look at temperatures. mainly in the 60s across the region. 61 six some varying temperatures here and there. 66 in front royal. 56 in huntingtown. yesterday it was 85 degrees. a lot of sunshine, low to mid de. the average high is 80 degrees. there are few high, thin clouds moving again, coming into the northwest today. that will be the story, a lot of sunshine moseley. it will be breezy. the lindell pickup midday end to this section with a cold front. a northwest breeze at 10-20. an uneventful frontal passage. we really could use some showers, so that is unfortunate.

a little cooler tonight than last night. dropping down to the '50s almost everywhere. sunny tomorrow. temperatures where they should be this time of year, topping out around 80. thursday there is a little warmer air, back to the mid 80's. then dropping again. a typical rollercoaster september ride. highs in the '70s on friday and saturday. traffic is beginning to wake up and trickling onto 66 eastbound into centreville. in good shape as far as the beltway and the falls church a long 66. and the problems on 95 in virginia. more of your neighbor sitting the roads. northbound 95 looking like this. inbounds going to springfield. in maryland, good on 95. route 4, no problems on 228 and s21210.

metrorail reporting normal service system wide. back to you. >> thank you. 65 degrees. >> coming up, tennis destiny, rafael nadal has won the u.s. open final, why it is so important, that's coming up. >> single line on the judge opens up in an exclusive interview with oprah today at 4:00 on abc 7. -- wynona.

river is in trouble, in the end zone, incomplete. >> that was against san diego on monday night. the chiefs aren't the upset win, 24-14. -- the chiefs earned the win. now let's look at the tennis for an alley at flushing meadows. >>-- tennis finale. joe flacco gets into a sandwich. it was 10-9 baltimore with time

running out. ray lewis hits keller. the ravens win 10-9 over the jets. the u.s. open championship was played last night. rafael nadal has gotten his ninth grand slam title. 6 to 2. overwhelming for one of the greatest tennis players of all time, rafael nadal. there's a look at your morning sports. have a great day, everybody. 65 degrees. the news continues at 5:30. oprah winfrey's international surprise on her season premiere. ulia from a local audience members about what it was like inside the studio. >> we are seven weeks from the midterm elections, but the tea party hopes to make a splash

today. i am pamela schmidt in washington. that story's coming up. >> 85 degrees yesterday, uncomfortably warm. >> 85 degrees yesterday, uncomfortably warm. we have a cold

live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> straight ahead, a fight to the finish. the polls give credit to open this primary day, the candidates have last-minute messages for local voters. good morning, washington. it is tuesday, september 14. i am greta kreuz. >> i am alison starling. thanks for joining us. we begin with your traffic and weather every ten minutes. adam caskey says it is a good day to open the windows early.

>> i told my wife that on my way out this morning. to get the windows open early. >> i'm sure she loved you for waking her up at 3:00 in the morning. >> not a bad start. 65 in arlington. 59 in hagerstown, 58 in stafford, 60 in waldorf. dew point numbers in the '50s. low humidity. it feels fantastic. cumberland is 53. 51 in la plata -- 61. the cold front moves in. you'll feel the breeze along the front. high temperatures will be a few degrees cooler than yesterday. 82. near 80 tomorrow. not a big impact from the cold front. by thursday, mid 80's. it is breeze. now to lisa baden in traffic. out of waldorf, md., 301

northbound before the split in brandywine there's a stalled car blocking the left lane. it should be gone by the time you get there. 95 and 66, a growing volume of traffic with everything open to get into rosslyn or heading into the pentagon and the 14th street bridge. a clean trip on the green way and the toll road, 270, and the beltway in montgomery county. nice ride on 270 at shady grove road. metrorail reporting for strains out on time. back to you. >> thank you. 5:31. our top story, election day in the district. maryland and six other states. the most controversial is the local race, d.c. mayor's race. today the polls will open at 7:00. the two leading candidates have some last-minute messages for voters.

pamela brown begins live coverage in southeast d.c. this morning. good morning. >> good morning. both top candidates for the mayor is race will be out in full force today trying to get every vote they can before polls close at 8:00 tonight. today is is a primary election day. more than 22,000 d.c. voters have already cast their ballots in the early voting. turnout is expected to be 55%, up from 34% in 2006. adrian fenty has been putting up a tough fight. vincent gray has steadily been up in the polls. fenty says its track record in the last four years will help them prevail. both candidates will visit several polling centers today. vincent gray will make his first stop this morning at the wellness center on 30th street at alabama street in southeast. no final word on where mayor adrian fenty will be this morning. the polls open at 7:00 this

morning and close at 8:00 tonight. back to you. >> thank you. we might want to point out that d.c. has changed the way voters cast their ballots. the district has unveiled new voter technology that includes new voting machines and electronic polls. people will be allowed to register and vote on the same day. officials are telling "the washington post" more than 22,000 voters to the advantage of really voting. we may be a step closer to little we imagine battle ground maryland. martin o'malley is expected to get his party's nomination. he will likely face former republican gov. bob ehrlich. ehrlich is being challenged by bob murphy, who is endorsed by sarah palin. the battle for prince george's county executive, rushern baker and michael jackson are vying for the democratic nomination.

the bulls have been open since 7:00 this morning until 8:00 tonight. -- will be open at 7:00. the polls will be open. key races in prince george's, montgomery, and baltimore counties today. 32% of voters are expected to turn out. for complete coverage of election results as we get them, log on to tbd.com. >> today is the last big primary day before the november midterm when the republicans could gain control of congress. emily schmidt is live in northwest with details on that. good morning. >> good morning. obviously, republicans are hoping to unseat democrat in november. today it is the tea party candidates in some states hoping to beat the gop favorites. one of the biggest

battlegrounds that could have a potential upset is delaware. that is a democrat-heavy state. they think my castle -- mike castle will be fighting against christine o'donnell. she has the backing of sarah palin. the republican race for governor, a dead heat with bricks lazio. the winner will face andrew cuomo. charles rangel spent 20 times more cash than the next closest candidate. he's facing a looming ethics trial. if the tea party favourite making for a tight race also in the new hampshire senate race. nationwide, tea party favorites have the gop candidates in senate primaries in six states so far this year.

we will watch to see if that number increases throughout the day. emily schmidt reporting for abc 7 news. back to you. >> thank you. the bush tax cuts have become the newest issue in the fall election. democrats are trying to extend them to people making less than $250,000 a year. republicans want to extend tax cuts for wealthy as well. the nonpartisan congressional budget office says it all the bush tax cuts are extended, economic growth could double in the next year. 64 degrees. still ahead, a new plan to ease congestion around the nation's capital. why a ride on the freeway and could be anything but. a communications meltdown on the deadline may have put some passengers in danger. another check on traffic and weather every ten minutes,

i am at the national zoo. there are 500 of these left in the world. to calm check them out -- vome check -- come check them out. good morning, washington. >> we are wearing purple today.

what's up with that? >> everybody's wearing purple, even lisa baden. i guess you could call this lavender, technically, necktie. it is 61 and sterling. la plata, 61. 58 in woodbridge. not bad. acosta will start today, but not as cool in the past couple mornings. 82 for the high temperatures today. if the cold front will create a breeze out of the northwest. that is the direction we like. the humidity will get even lower than right now. mostly sunny skies, pleasant today. another dry day tomorrow, mostly sunny. if the average high is 83. pretty much we should be tomorrow afternoon. a west wind at 5-dental.

now to lisa baden. -- a west wind at 5 to 10. things look great. a gentle reminder that canal road near reservoir roads will be closed every day this week between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for minutes. if not only the hwy crew. for a tree-trimming crew and street pavers. what to expect within the next few moments, look at this. heavy volume of traffic out of frederick into montgomery county on 270. newschopper 7 in a little while. back to you. >> thank you. 5:41 on this tuesday, 64 degrees. oprah winfrey is going down under end she is taking several hundred of her closest friends. >> we all got on the escalator

to go up and they started shouting at us to get back on the train. >> there was a scare on metro's red line. >> new pictures of the terrible internal in california and >> new pictures of the terrible internal in california and details about what went

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good morning. 5:45 on this tuesday morning. checking our top stories, it is primary day in maryland and the district. in d.c., the contentious mayor's race will come to an end. voters will also choose candidates for several city offices. maryland voters will decide if the governor and other state, county, and local offices. this is video that shows how ferocious the blaze was in california. four people died. dozens of houses were damaged or destroyed. because of the blast is not known > the fate of an american woman said to be released from

an iranian prison is still in limbo. attorneys for sarah shourd want authorities to drop a demand for $500,000 in bail. the family hopes to return to the u.s. if sooner to get treatment for a severe medical treatment. metrobus the elevator and escalator problems have been widely reported. but that was combined with the communications meltdown that created a potentially dangerous situation last night. it happened during the heat of the evening rush in wheaton. courtney robinson is live on the scene with what went wrong and if everything is fixed. >> everything is back to normal. wheaton station is back open. but the red line once again is under scrutiny because of the major miscommunication. a failure that could lead to serious injuries. >> that is what happens with the metro. >> it seems like one thing after another for this passenger.

this time a mistake by the transit agency could have turned dangerous. >> we got on the escalators to go up and they started shouting at us to get off and go back on the train. >> the escalator was electrified. with all elevators out of service, the agency said down wheaton station. the train operator did not know the station was closed, neither did 50 passengers who had to get back on the train to go to for glenn and then get a syllabus back to wheaton. >> very frustrating. >> on saturday the elevator broke, trapping 15 people inside, 30 minutes. >no one was injured. metro is investigating. the wheaton station is open. one escalator and one elevator running. courtney robinson reporting from wheaton. a meeting is set for today to try to resolve a bus driver

strike in prince george's county. thousands of passengers were left stranded. >> i waited 40 minutes and the bus never showed up. >> the strike began yesterday. the main issue is how the driver safety violations are handled. a labor deal expired in june. the company hopes to have replacement drivers on the road today. some virginia dmv customers are upset about another computer glitch. yesterday the automatic system at of franconia dmv office was out of commission several hours. that slowed down service, creating long lines for customers. 5:48 on this tuesday morning. looking at the day ahead, president obama goes to philadelphia to deliver his second back-to-school speech. he will tell students that nothing is beyond their reach if they're unwilling to work hard and focus on their education. d.c. area students appear to be doing much better on the s.a.t. test. the college board for said the

average s.a.t. score for d.c. students shot up 26 points from last year. if the average score for montgomery county students jumped 38 points from last year. s.a.t. scores in fairfax county students was not changed, but they are still the highest in our region. 5:48. time for traffic and weather every ten minutes. you were telling. igor and julia and the there's another one out there. >that last one is little. >> disturbances are often lined up this time of year. near the african continent we could see what could become the next named storm. igor might hit bermuda. julia is a category 4. it's gradually weakening and turning northward. we need some rain.

we could use the rain. >> it rained on sunday. >> it is getting all ho-hum. 61 in hyattsville, 65 in arlington, 57 in bristow, 68 at nationals park. we are in low 60's for the most part. 59 in martinsburg. 59 into b.j.'s. not quite as comfortably cool as the past zero mornings. let's look at the almanac data from yesterday. 85 was the high temperature yesterday afternoon. the average is 80. lil above average today. the record high today is 94, set in 1981. not much in terms of cloud cover right now. a few high, thin clouds coming

from the northwest. that will be the story today. we have another cold front moving through. we have that several cold fronts the past couple weeks. sometimes those bring clouds and showers. they have not been doing that. if today it's another dry frontal passage with mostly sunny skies. 82 is the high temperature. there will be a drop in the humidity levels. humidity levels are pretty comfortable. the breeze will be the biggest chains that you notice. northwesterly winds at 10-20 with gusts up to 25. cooler tomorrow morning in the 50's at the bus stop. near 80 tomorrow afternoon. sunny. thursday,. chance of showers late thursday into early friday. it does not look like much, unfortunately. looks good around the beltway. looks great on interstate travel. metrorail reporting for strains out on normal service. marc rail has a broken down for

train, the camden train 84020 minutes late. the pace of trafficked on 270 at montrose road, both directions +. in virginia, not going to happen -- their we are at the 14th street bridge. back to you. >> thank you. did you catch "the oprah winfrey show"? >> i recorded it. >> show me the highlights. >> the final season got off to a pretty powerful starts. yesterday during the season premiere, the talk-show host announced a big giveaway. >> you are going to australia >> oberg gave all 300 audience members and over th two -- over the to two -- true to

australia. >> i went through two boxes of tissues. >> john travolta was there. they showed clips from 25 years ago. john johnson turned down an opportunity to be on that first oprah winfrey show. he was there yesterday for the season premiere. >> i wonder if john travolta is going to fly them down there. >> i wonder. >> paul simon was singing as well. a behind-the-scenes look at a special episode of "extreme makeover home addition." a team of volunteers are in nashville to rebuild and restore preschool that was destroyed during last spring's massive floods. they know we're tearing down what is left of the building and starting over. the uncommon who inspired sandra bullock's character in the movie

"the blind side" was one of the volunteers there. >> i cannot watch that movie without -- i cannot watch that show without during upkeep -- without crying. >> i have the response. >> a short break. >> i have the response. >> a short break.

having tools on more than 1,600 miles of highway in our area. >> part of a study funded by

grants from the federal government. the report suggests adding tolls to the beltway, 66, 95, 270, and the bw parkway. the tolls would increase travel speeds by 15-20 miles an hour. >> i would probably find it pretty annoying if i had to do it every time. >> the roads are crowded and it's not a bad idea. paying for the use of the roads is probably a good way to go about it. >> the national capital region transportation planning board will meet tomorrow to discuss the issue. >> always looking for solutions in this area. paying to get stuck in traffic, i don't know. >> there's a lot more to come in the second hour. >> a gender gap when it comes to

hand washing. how many people are not washing up. >> the primary is finally here after months of campaigning, what you need to know

coming up, the district's long and controversial race for mayor is wrapping up. on this